Step 8 – Research.

Using one of my own stories as an example, I needed to research several things.

Sailing terms

All about marinas

Beachfront community

Tourism

Pneumatic nail guns

Multiple Sclerosis

heroin addiction

Maybe you need to research dragons, werewolves, vampires, anaphylactic shock, or mythical beings. Whatever it is that you need to do research on, you will need a way to keep it organized.

I needed to have an organized system to keep my data, unlike the usual stacks of paper scattered across my desk that I can’t put my fingers on when I need it. Do you remember back on step 4 when I talked about your toolbox? One of the tools I recommended was Evernote. This is a valuable software for keeping your Research organized. One handy-dandy place to keep all of my stored information, web addresses, bits of fun facts and miscellaneous points of interest organized by categories within the program.

By creating a system of tags for your book, you can collect your stored data, by placing them in an easy to access manner.

Examples:

Primary tags: Secondary tags:

Chapter 1 epigraph

chapter 2 murder weapon

chapter 3 sailing terms

chapter 4 police procedures

chapter 5 heroine addiction

Whatever headings you decide, you are able to keep all of the information organized and ready to access. Is it mandatory? NO. But why not help yourself with the proper tools?

Whatever it is you need to research, make a system to keep the information organized and available.

What’s next? Rounding the second corner of the last leg will take us to next week’s topic.